Genesis Energy LP (GEL) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings and welcome to Genesis Energy LP fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Dwayne Morley, Vice President of Investor Relations.

歡迎參加 Genesis Energy LP 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。正式演講後將舉行問答環節。（操作員指示）我現在想將會議轉交給東道主投資者關係副總裁德韋恩·莫利 (Dwayne Morley)。

Thanks, Rob. Good morning, welcome to the 2023 fourth quarter conference call for Genesis Energy, Genesis Energy has four business segments, the Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment is engaged in providing the critical infrastructure to move oil produced from the long-lived world-class reservoirs in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to onshore refining centers.

謝謝，羅布。早安，歡迎參加Genesis Energy 2023年第四季電話會議，Genesis Energy有四個業務部門，海上管道運輸部門致力於提供關鍵基礎設施，以運輸深水長期世界級油藏生產的石油墨西哥灣至陸上煉油中心。

The Soda and Sulfur Services segment includes trona and trona based exploring mining processing, producing marketing and selling activities as well as the processing of sour gas streams to remove sulfur at refining operations. The Onshore Facilities and Transportation segment is engaged in the transportation handling, blending, storage and supply of energy products, including crude oil and refined products.

蘇打和硫服務部門包括天然鹼和基於天然鹼的勘探採礦加工、生產行銷和銷售活動以及在煉油作業中加工酸性氣流以去除硫。陸上設施和運輸部門從事能源產品（包括原油和成品油）的運輸處理、混合、儲存和供應。

The Marine Transportation segment is engaged in the marine transportation of primarily refined petroleum products. Genesis' operations are primarily located in Wyoming, the Gulf Coast states and the Gulf of Mexico.

海運部門從事主要精煉石油產品的海運業務。Genesis 的業務主要位於懷俄明州、墨西哥灣沿岸各州和墨西哥灣。

During this conference call, management may be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The law provides safe harbor protection to encourage companies to provide forward-looking information. Genesis intends to avail itself of those safe harbor provisions and directs you to its most recently filed and future filings with the Securities Exchange Commission.

在本次電話會議期間，管理階層可能會做出 1933 年《證券法》和 1934 年《證券交易法》含義內的前瞻性聲明。該法提供安全港保護，鼓勵公司提供前瞻性資訊。Genesis 打算利用這些安全港條款，並引導您查看其最近向證券交易委員會提交的文件和未來的文件。

We also encourage you to visit our website at genesisenergy.com, where a copy of the press release we issued today is located. The press release also presents a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures.

我們也鼓勵您造訪我們的網站 genesisenergy.com，其中包含我們今天發布的新聞稿副本。新聞稿也提供了非公認會計原則財務指標與最具可比性的公認會計原則財務指標的調節表。

At this time, I would like to introduce Grant Sims, CEO of Genesis Energy LP. Mr. Sims will be joined by Kristen Jesulaitis, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer; Ryan Sims, President and Chief Commercial Officer; and Louie Nicol, Chief Accounting Officer.

這次我想介紹一下Genesis Energy LP執行長格蘭特‧西姆斯(Grant Sims)。Sims 先生將由財務長兼首席法務官 Kristen Jesulaitis 加入； Ryan Sims，總裁兼首席商務官；和首席會計官路易·尼科爾(Louie Nicol)。

Thanks, Dwayne. Good morning to everyone, and thank you for listening to the call. As we mentioned in our earnings release this morning, our financial results for the fourth quarter came in ahead of our internal expectations and the performance of our diversified market leading businesses helped contribute towards a record year for Genesis.

謝謝，德韋恩。大家早安，感謝您收聽電話。正如我們在今天早上的財報中提到的，我們第四季度的財務業績超出了我們的內部預期，我們多元化市場領先業務的業績幫助 Genesis 創下了創紀錄的一年。

For the full year, we reported adjusted EBITDA of $756 million, which was above the top end of our most recent full-year guidance and is approximately 11% over our normalized 2022 results. During the quarter our Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment benefited from steady and increasing volumes through our pipelines, while our Marine Transportation segment continued to exceed expectations, driven in large part by the continued structural tightness in the Jones Act market.

我們報告的全年調整後 EBITDA 為 7.56 億美元，高於我們最新全年指引的上限，比 2022 年標準化業績高出約 11%。本季度，我們的海上管道運輸部門受益於管道運輸量的穩定和增長，而我們的海上運輸部門繼續超出預期，這在很大程度上是由於《瓊斯法案》市場持續的結構性緊張。

Our Soda ash business finished off the best year in its history and continued to perform in line with our expectations during the quarter, despite softer soda ash prices and a more challenging macro environment in the back half of the year.

儘管下半年純鹼價格疲軟且宏觀環境更具挑戰性，我們的純鹼業務完成了歷史上最好的一年，並繼續符合我們的預期。

The strong consolidated financial performance in the fourth quarter resulted in our leverage ratio as calculated by our senior secured lenders ending the quarter end the year at 3.96 times, as well as a coverage ratio for the current distribution to all our common unitholders of 4.8 times.

第四季度強勁的綜合財務業績使我們的槓桿率（按我們的高級擔保貸款機構計算）在季度末達到了3.96 倍，以及對我們所有普通單位持有人的當前分配的覆蓋率達到了4.8 倍。

As we look ahead to 2024, we remain encouraged with the fundamentals and exciting prospects for our largest business in the Gulf of Mexico. Our Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment contribution is expected to be flat year over year, given a certain economic step-down associated with the 10-year anniversary of an existing one off life of lease transportation contract that will somewhat sequentially mask the financial contribution from the continued growth in volumes and strong activity levels around our irreplaceable assets.

展望 2024 年，我們對墨西哥灣最大業務的基本面和令人興奮的前景仍然感到鼓舞。我們的海上管道運輸部門的貢獻預計將同比持平，因為與現有一次性租賃運輸合約十週年相關的一定程度的經濟下降將在一定程度上掩蓋持續的財務貢獻圍繞我們不可替代資產的銷量增長和強勁的活動水平。

Importantly, we're now a short time away from completing the CHOPS expansion and commissioning our new sync pipeline. The fully contracted upstream developments underpinning these investments, Shenandoah and Salamanca, along with other already identified subsea tiebacks, are expected to come online will provide us with more than an incremental $100 million to $110 million of annual offshore segment margin when fully ramped and would be reasonably expected to contribute for decades and decades to come.

重要的是，我們現在距離完成 CHOPS 擴展和調試我們的新同步管道還有很短的時間。支持這些投資的完全簽約的上游開發項目——Shenandoah 和 Salamanca，以及其他已經確定的海底回接項目，預計將在全面投產後為我們提供超過 1 億至 1.1 億美元的年度海上業務利潤增量。合理預期將在未來幾十年做出貢獻。

The soda ash market remains looser than a year ago and is currently consistent with the macro conditions we saw and previously discussed in the back half of last year. While we expect to see contract prices in our domestic market flat to slightly up in the mid-single digits year over year, it's most likely that we see weaker price in our export markets in '24 versus our average realized prices last year.

純鹼市場仍比一年前寬鬆，目前與我們去年下半年看到和討論的宏觀狀況一致。雖然我們預計國內市場的合約價格將同比持平或小幅上漲，但 24 年出口市場的價格很可能會比去年的平均實現價格疲軟。

Even with an optimized Granger online, we would therefore, reasonably expect the contribution margin from our soda ash business to be at or near the low end of our previously provided historical contribution margin range of $200 million to $300 million per year. Having said that, we're of the mindset that the market is not as oversupplied as some might argue.

因此，即使有了優化的格蘭傑在線，我們也可以合理地預期純鹼業務的邊際貢獻將達到或接近我們之前提供的每年 2 億至 3 億美元的歷史邊際貢獻範圍的低端。話雖如此，我們的心態是市場並不像有些人認為的那樣供應過剩。

We believe inventories are very low, demand is not really that bad, driven in large part by demand for solar panels and electric vehicles and that the market might be underestimating the effects of reduced synthetic gas production and the change in physical flows of soda ash supplies we are seeing worldwide.

我們認為庫存非常低，需求並沒有那麼糟糕，這在很大程度上是由太陽能電池板和電動汽車的需求推動的，而且市場可能低估了合成氣體產量減少和純鹼供應實物流量變化的影響我們正在全世界範圍內看到。

We continue to anticipate as we move through '24 and certainly into '25 and it's a soda ash export markets in which we primarily compete, namely Asia outside of China and Latin America could fairly quickly come into better balance, which should help our soda ash business return to a more normalized mid-cycle earnings profile starting as early as 2025.

我們繼續預計，隨著我們進入“24 年”，當然也進入“25 年”，我們主要競爭的是純鹼出口市場，即中國以外的亞洲和拉丁美洲可以相當快地達到更好的平衡，這應該有助於我們的純鹼最早從 2025 年開始，企業將恢復到更正常化的中期獲利狀況。

In our Marine Transportation segment, we expect 2024 to be another strong, if not record year, driven in large part by the continuing tight supply and demand dynamics in the Jones Act market. This structural backdrop is expected to continue to support increasing dayrates and full practical utilization across all classes of our marine vessels throughout 2024.

在我們的海運領域，我們預計 2024 年即使不是創紀錄的，也將是另一個強勁的一年，這在很大程度上是由《瓊斯法案》市場持續緊張的供需動態推動的。預計這一結構性背景將在 2024 年繼續支援我們所有類別船舶的日費率提高和充分實際利用。

Based on the backdrop currently expected in 2024, we expect to generate adjusted EBITDA this year in the range of $680 million to $740 million which includes approximately $10 million of one-time incremental G&A costs as we conform our short term cash incentive programs to industry standards and approximately $10 million of reduced margin from weather-related events we budget for in the third quarter, something that we fortunately did not experience in 2023.

根據目前預計 2024 年的背景，我們預計今年調整後的 EBITDA 將達到 6.8 億至 7.4 億美元，其中包括約 1,000 萬美元的一次性增量 G&A 成本，因為我們的短期現金激勵計劃符合行業標準我們在第三季的預算中因天氣相關事件而減少了約1000 萬美元的利潤，幸運的是我們在2023 年沒有遇到這種情況。

The range of outcomes we have laid out for 2024 will be driven primarily by the pace at which soda ash prices recover in our export markets throughout the year. The midpoint of our guidance range assumes a moderate recovery starting in the middle of the year, while the bookends of the range assume little to no recovery from the first quarter and a much faster recovery in the back half of the year, respectively.

我們為 2024 年制定的一系列結果將主要取決於全年出口市場純鹼價格的復甦速度。我們的指導範圍的中點假設從年中開始溫和復甦，而該範圍的帳端則假設從第一季度開始幾乎沒有復甦，而下半年則假設復甦速度更快。

Despite the midpoint being marginally down versus our 2023 results, but still 5% or so above normalized 2022 earnings. It is important to remember that we have always viewed 2024 as a year during which we will reach the inflection point where our major capital spending will be complete, and we will enter 2025 with a known and contracted significant step change in earnings from the offshore as well as likely momentum towards a back towards a mid-cycle soda ash environment.

儘管中點較 2023 年業績略有下降，但仍比 2022 年正常盈利高出 5% 左右。重要的是要記住，我們一直將 2024 年視為我們將達到主要資本支出完成的拐點的一年，並且我們將進入 2025 年，離岸收益將出現已知的顯著變化，如下所示：以及可能回到中期純鹼環境的勢頭。

The combination of these events will provide us with increasing amounts of free cash flow after all our cash obligations and generate increased financial flexibility to continue to simplify our capital structure, return capital to our stakeholders and ultimately allow us to continue to build long-term value for everyone in the capital structure for many years ahead.

這些事件的結合將為我們在履行所有現金義務後提供越來越多的自由現金流，並提高財務靈活性，以繼續簡化我們的資本結構，將資本返還給我們的利益相關者，並最終使我們能夠繼續創造長期價值對於未來許多年資本結構中的每個人來說。

Now touch briefly on our individual business segments. Our Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment continued to perform in line with our expectations, driven in large part by steady and marginally increasing volumes across our system. We continue to see a steady increase in volumes from BP's Argo's facility, which is now producing over 100,000 barrels per day, along with steady volumes from Mad Dog Atlantis, King's Quay, screwing Scott McKenzie, Constitution, Lucius and another major producing fields in the central Gulf of Mexico.

現在簡要談談我們的各個業務部門。我們的海上管道運輸部門的表現持續符合我們的預期，這在很大程度上得益於我們系統中穩定且小幅增長的運輸量。我們繼續看到 BP 的 Argo 工廠的產量穩定成長，該工廠目前每天生產超過 10 萬桶石油，同時 Mad Dog Atlantis、King's Quay、Scott McKenzie、Constitution、Lucius 和該地區其他主要產油田的產量也穩定成長。墨西哥灣中部。

We also announced this morning that we recently entered into agreements with Beacon and other interest owners to provide downstream transportation services for 100% of the crude oil associated with the deepwater Gulf of Mexico winter fill development on our CHOPS pipeline to shore. Winterfell will be developed via new subsea tieback to the existing Heidelberg spar and importantly will require no capital by Genesis. It is anticipated to initiate deliveries as early as April of this year.

今天早上我們還宣布，我們最近與 Beacon 和其他利益所有者簽訂了協議，為我們的 CHOPS 管道到岸的墨西哥灣深水冬季填充開發相關的 100% 原油提供下游運輸服務。Winterfell 將透過與現有 Heidelberg Spar 的新海底回接進行開發，重要的是不需要 Genesis 提供資金。預計最快將於今年四月開始交付。

In addition to Winterfell, BP and other working interest owners in the Mad Dog two field also recently sanctioned the Mad Dog Argo's southwest extension project. This will be a three well tieback to the existing Argo's production facility that will come online and provide additional volumes on our CHOPS system transportation to shore in the not-too-distant future.

除了Winterfell之外，BP和Mad Dog二號油田的其他工作權益所有者最近也批准了Mad Dog Argo的西南延伸項目。這將是與現有 Argo 生產設施的三井回接，該設施將上線並在不久的將來為我們的 CHOPS 系統運輸到岸上提供額外的產量。

These are both yet again, exciting and prime examples of subsea tiebacks that leverage an existing host platform that is already connected to our market-leading infrastructure in the central Gulf of Mexico. While we continue to have additional commercial discussions with multiple similar opportunities that could turn to additional volumes over the next few years. All of these recent new facilities like Shenandoah and Salamanca and other developments that have or soon will be connected to our system over the next 12 to 18 months will continue to provide Genesis with a solid foundation of volume growth to build upon starting in 2025.

這些都是令人興奮的海底回接的主要例子，它們利用現有的主機平台，該平台已經連接到我們位於墨西哥灣中部市場領先的基礎設施。我們將繼續與多個類似的機會進行更多的商業討論，這些討論可能會在未來幾年內增加銷售量。所有這些最近的新設施，如 Shenandoah 和 Salamanca 以及其他已或即將在未來 12 至 18 個月內連接到我們系統的開發項目，將繼續為 Genesis 從 2025 年開始的銷售增長奠定堅實的基礎。

As we look out past 2025, we'd be remiss to not mention the results of the bones most recently. So number 261, which was held on December 20, 2023. The results of the lease sale continued to solidify our and the upstream industry's belief and view that there remains significant long-term interest in the geographies of the Central Gulf of Mexico where our existing pipeline infrastructure is located.

當我們展望 2025 年時，如果不提及最近的骨骼結果，那就太失職了。第 261 屆比賽於 2023 年 12 月 20 日舉行。租賃銷售的結果繼續鞏固了我們和上游行業的信念和觀點，即我們現有管道基礎設施所在的墨西哥灣中部地區仍然存在重大的長期利益。

The most recent lease sale raised approximately $381 million and had bids for 311 tracks covering roughly 1.7 million acres in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico with about half of that or 883,000 acres located in the central Gulf of Mexico. When combined with the results from lease sale 259, which was held in March 2023, we've seen over 3.4 million acres leased in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico with approximately 1.6 million acres leased in the central Gulf of Mexico, where our pipelines are located.

最近的租賃銷售籌集了約 3.81 億美元，並對 311 條賽道進行了投標，覆蓋墨西哥灣聯邦水域約 170 萬英畝的面積，其中約一半（即 883,000 英畝）位於墨西哥灣中部。結合 2023 年 3 月舉行的第 259 次租賃出售的結果，我們發現墨西哥灣聯邦水域租賃了超過 340 萬英畝的土地，其中墨西哥灣中部租賃了約 160 萬英畝的土地，我們的管道在那裡位於。

Suffice it to say the results from these two most recent lease sales will only be additive to the decades and decades of inventory that already exist on existing and valid leases in the central Gulf. The combination of our continuance increasing base of production volumes, the contracted opportunities we have coming online over the next 12 months and the ever expanding backlog of available acreage for producers to identify explore pursue and develop incremental opportunities will allow us to remain well positioned to deliver steady, stable and growing cash flows from Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment for many, many years and decades to come.

可以說，最近兩次租賃銷售的結果只會增加海灣中部現有和有效租賃中已經存在的數十年的庫存。我們不斷增加的產量基礎、我們在未來 12 個月內上線的合約機會以及不斷擴大的積壓可用面積（供生產商確定、探索、追求和開發增量機會）將使我們能夠保持良好的地位來交付未來許多年和幾十年，海上管道運輸部門的現金流將保持穩定、穩定和成長。

Turning now to our soda and sulfur services segment, our soda ash business generally performed in line with our expectations during the quarter. As the global macro conditions remained relatively consistent with the sloppiness, we first started to see in mid second quarter of 2023. Despite the current challenging supply and demand dynamics, we continue to believe the market is not as far away as it might seem from balanceing and at any sort of structural demand upticker supply disruption could drive a rapid price increase.

現在轉向我們的純鹼和硫服務部門，我們的純鹼業務在本季的表現總體符合我們的預期。由於全球宏觀狀況與草率保持相對一致，我們首先在 2023 年第二季中期開始看到這種情況。儘管目前的供需動態充滿挑戰，但我們仍然認為，市場距離平衡並不像看起來那麼遙遠，而且無論哪種結構性需求上升，供應中斷都可能推動價格快速上漲。

As we mentioned last quarter, we continue to believe it will be a combination of supply rationalization and a demand recovery that will ultimately help balance the market. In fact, we are starting to see glimpses of this balancing to occur. For instance, within China, the new natural production facility in Inner Mongolia is reported to be up and running at or near full capacity. Despite headlines around the real estate sector in China we believe the demand for soda ash and China grew around 7% in 2023, driven primarily by solar panel construction and electric vehicle manufacturing.

正如我們上季度提到的，我們仍然相信供應合理化和需求復甦的組合將最終有助於平衡市場。事實上，我們已經開始看到這種平衡的出現。例如，據報道，在中國境內，內蒙古的新天然生產設施已滿載或接近滿載運作。儘管中國房地產行業成為頭條新聞，但我們相信，純鹼和中國的需求在 2023 年將增長 7% 左右，這主要是由太陽能電池板建設和電動車製造推動的。

We also believe approximately 2 million to 3 million tons of high cost synthetic production in mainland China and greater scrutiny has been partially shut down or is capacity constrained due to environmental issues or other factors. These data points would lead us to believe that the market within China is reasonably balanced today and the vast majority of the new natural production is in fact being consumed and absorbed within China, putting pressure on higher-cost synthetic producers within China. Export data does not support the notion of a wave of Chinese soda looking for a home and other Asian economies.

我們也認為，由於環境問題或其他因素，中國大陸約 200 萬噸至 300 萬噸高成本合成生產已部分關閉或產能受到限制，並受到更嚴格的審查。這些數據點使我們相信，目前中國境內的市場相當平衡，絕大多數新的自然生產實際上正在中國境內被消費和吸收，這給中國境內成本較高的合成生產商帶來了壓力。出口數據並不支持中國汽水熱潮尋找本土和其他亞洲經濟體的觀點。

In fact, late last year and here in the first quarter, given where prices were and are domestically in China, certain natural gas -- natural soda ash producers started to rotate production away from Europe and Southeast Asia and sold volumes into China directly to capture higher realized netback prices.

事實上，去年年底和第一季度，考慮到中國國內價格的過去和現在，某些天然氣——天然純鹼生產商開始將生產從歐洲和東南亞轉移到中國，以獲取更多的資源。實現淨回值價格。

As we look outside of China, we continue to believe certain other synthetic production facilities are uneconomic at these pricing levels, and those producers are unable to cover their marginal operating costs. And as a result, we can continue to see further synthetic supply rationalization. For example, a certain European synthetic recently shuttered 300,000 tons of annual supply in Spain to optimize its production and adapt to changing market dynamics.

當我們放眼中國以外的地區時，我們仍然認為某些其他合成生產設施在這些定價水準上是不經濟的，而這些生產商無法涵蓋其邊際營運成本。因此，我們可以繼續看到合成供應進一步合理化。例如，某歐洲合成材料最近關閉了西班牙30萬噸的年供應量，以優化其生產並適應不斷變化的市場動態。

Further, third party research is estimating that approximately 150,000 tons will come offline this year from a producer in the United States. Not us. We further anticipate approximately 300,000 tons will leave Southeast Asia and return to Europe to take advantage of its logistical advantages and to avoid certain problematic shipping lanes that are further increasing transportation costs and impacting supply chain logistics for such tons to go from Europe to Asia. All of these data points indicated to us that the export markets in which we can peak could dramatically tighten and quite possibly sooner rather than later.

此外，第三方研究估計，今年美國一家生產商將停產約 15 萬噸。不是我們。我們進一步預計，大約有30萬噸貨物將離開東南亞返回歐洲，以利用其物流優勢，並避免某些有問題的航線，這些航線進一步增加了運輸成本，並影響了從歐洲運往亞洲的供應鏈物流。所有這些數據點都向我們表明，我們能夠達到頂峰的出口市場可能會急劇收緊，而且很可能是宜早不宜遲。

As we stated in our earnings release, we reached substantial completion and commissioned our Granger expansion project during the fourth quarter while we continue to work through typical startup matters, we ultimately expect the expansion to add upwards of approximately 750,000 tons a year with a very attractive marginal operating cost per ton to our supply capabilities in 2024. This will both increase our sales volumes and lower our operating cost per ton at Granger and throughout our entire soda ash operations, ultimately helping us offset some of the impacts of lower soda ash prices.

正如我們在收益報告中所述，我們在第四季度基本上完成並委託了格蘭傑擴建項目，同時我們繼續處理典型的啟動事宜，我們最終預計擴建項目每年將增加約75 萬噸以上，具有非常有吸引力的吸引力2024 年我們的供應能力每噸邊際營運成本。這將增加我們的銷售量並降低格蘭傑以及整個純鹼業務的每噸營運成本，最終幫助我們抵消純鹼價格下跌的一些影響。

Pro forma for the Granger expansion, we continue to believe our 4.7 million to 4.8 million tons of annual soda ash production will provide us with the cost structure and scale to be successful across all of economic cycles as one of the largest and lowest cost suppliers in the world. Not a bad place to be for a commodity which yes, has some pricing volatility, but has no known substitutes and solid long-term fundamentals for many decades to come.

就格蘭傑擴建計畫而言，我們仍然相信我們每年470 萬噸至480 萬噸的純鹼產量將為我們提供成本結構和規模，使我們能夠在所有經濟週期中取得成功，成為全球最大和成本最低的供應商之一。對於一種商品來說，這是一個不錯的地方，是的，它具有一定的價格波動，但在未來幾十年內沒有已知的替代品和堅實的長期基本面。

It is interesting to note that with an optimized Granger facility, if soda ash prices were to return to actual prices we received in 2023 or 2022. For that matter, we would expect to realize well north of $300 million a year in contribution from this business.

有趣的是，透過優化格蘭傑設施，純鹼價格是否會恢復到我們在 2023 年或 2022 年收到的實際價格。就此而言，我們預計該業務每年的貢獻將超過 3 億美元。

Our Marine Transportation segment continues to meet or exceed our expectations as market conditions and demand fundamentals continue to remain steady. As mentioned in the release, we continue to operate with utilizations right at or near 100% of practical available capacity for all classes of our vessels as the supply and demand outlook for Jones Act tankage remains structurally tight.

隨著市場狀況和需求基本面持續保持穩定，我們的海運部門繼續達到或超越我們的預期。正如新聞稿中所提到的，由於《瓊斯法案》儲油量的供需前景仍然結構性緊張，我們繼續以接近或接近 100% 實際可用運力的利用率運營所有級別的船舶。

This structural change in market dynamics has been driven by a combination of steady and robust demand. The continued retirements of older equipment and effectively zero new construction of our type of marine vessels. This lack of new supply marine tonnage combined with steady increase in demand continues to drive spot day rates and longer term contracted rates in both of our fleets to record levels.

市場動態的這種結構性變化是由穩定和強勁的需求共同推動的。舊設備的持續退役和我們類型船舶的新建造實際上為零。新供應船舶噸位的缺乏加上需求的穩定增長，繼續推動我們兩個船隊的現貨日費率和長期合約費率達到創紀錄的水平。

In addition, I'm happy to report that we also started the American Phoenix most recent charter a few weeks ago at a day rate, approximately 22% higher than the day rate in the fourth quarter, which I'll remind you also escalates for the term of the agreement for the next 3.5 years. Based on recent industry commentary and various market data points, we continue to have the view that current day rates need to rise significantly in order to rationalize construction of new comparable marine equipment.

此外，我很高興地向您報告，幾週前我們還以日費率啟動了美國鳳凰城的最新包機，比第四季度的日費率高出約22%，我會提醒您，這也會升級協議期限為未來3.5年。根據最近的行業評論和各種市場數據點，我們仍然認為，目前的日費率需要大幅上升，以便合理化新的可比較船舶設備的建設。

Furthermore, limited shipyard availability, extended construction time lines and increasingly high cost of construction should provide support for elevated and marginally increasing day rates from many years ahead. These broader fundamentals, combined with our increasingly termed out contracted portfolio, including the new 3.5 year contract for the American Phoenix referenced all lead me to believe our marine transportation segment is well positioned to deliver record and growing earnings over the coming years.

此外，有限的造船廠可用性、延長的施工時間和日益高昂的施工成本應該為未來許多年日費率的上升和小幅增長提供支援。這些更廣泛的基本面，再加上我們日益到期的合約投資組合，包括美國鳳凰號引用的新的3.5 年合同，所有這些都讓我相信我們的海運部門處於有利地位，可以在未來幾年創造創紀錄且不斷增長的收益。

As I mentioned earlier, and will reiterate again, the long term story for Genesis has never been brighter and remains totally intact. We remain focused on completing our growth capital program in the next 9 to 12 months, all while having no debt maturities until 2026 and an increasingly clear line of sight to generating roughly $250 million to $350 million or more of free cash flow on an annualized basis after all cash obligations starting in 2025.

正如我之前提到的，並將再次重申，《創世紀》的長期故事從未如此光明，並且保持完整。我們仍然專注於在未來9 至12 個月內完成我們的成長資本計劃，同時在2026 年之前沒有債務到期，並且每年產生約2.5 億至3.5 億美元或更多自由現金流的目標越來越清楚扣除從 2025 年開始的所有現金義務。

I would also point out that this expectation remains on track, even if it might take a little bit longer than we expect for the inevitable recovery in soda ash export prices off the lows we're seeing here in early 2024. We will continue to evaluate the various levers we can pull to return this capital to our stakeholders, including paying down debt, raising our common distribution, repurchasing additional amounts of our corporate preferred securities, continuing to purchase our common units or any mispriced debt securities, all while maintaining an appropriate level of liquidity and, of course, maintaining a focus on our long-term leverage ratio.

我還想指出，這種預期仍然在正軌上，儘管純鹼出口價格不可避免地要從 2024 年初的低點回升可能需要比我們預期的時間稍長。我們將繼續評估我們可以利用的各種槓桿，將這些資本返還給我們的利益相關者，包括償還債務、提高我們的共同分配、回購額外數量的公司優先證券、繼續購買我們的普通單位或任何定價錯誤的債務證券，同時保持適當的流動性水平，當然，也要關注我們的長期槓桿率。

Finally, I'd like to say the management team and a Board of Directors remain steadfast in our commitment to building long-term value for all our stakeholders and we believe the decisions we are making reflect this commitment and our confidence in Genesis moving forward. I would once again like to recognize our entire workforce for their individual efforts and unwavering commitment to safe and responsible operations, and I'm extremely proud to be associated with each and every one of you.

最後，我想說，管理團隊和董事會仍然堅定不移地致力於為所有利益相關者創造長期價值，我們相信我們所做的決策反映了這一承諾以及我們對 Genesis 前進的信心。我想再次表彰我們全體員工的個人努力以及對安全和負責任運營的堅定承諾，我非常自豪能夠與你們每一個人合作。

With that, I'll turn it back to the moderator for any questions.

這樣，如果有任何問題，我會將其轉回給主持人。

Thank you. At this time we'll be conducting a question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。此時我們將進行問答環節。（操作員說明）

Michael Blum, Wells Fargo.

麥可布魯姆，富國銀行。

Thanks, and good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask on marine transportation, obviously really strong outlook at this point. I wanted to ask first, is there given the market dynamics and ability to effectively lengthened the terms of these contracts to lock in these favorable rates. And then kind of on the flip side, given how strong things are right now, is that a segment that you would consider divesting or that's one we've talked about in the past.

謝謝，大家早安。我想詢問海運方面的問題，顯然目前前景非常強勁。我想先問，鑑於市場動態和能力，是否有能力有效延長這些合約的期限以鎖定這些優惠利率。另一方面，考慮到現在的情況有多強勁，你會考慮剝離這個細分市場，或者我們過去討論過這個細分市場。

We're approaching the current contracting world by putting the -- extending the length and as the percentage of our vessels, which are under longer term contracts. So it's indeed a good time to lock in some of these rates, but we still believe that, as we said in the comments that we view that rates have to kind of go up from here in order to really solve the structural issue, so we are maintaining a balance of that or of vessels which are exposed to increasing day rates on the spot market.

我們正在透過延長長度和我們的船舶所佔的百分比來接近當前的合約世界，這些船舶是長期合約的。因此，現在確實是鎖定其中一些利率的好時機，但我們仍然相信，正如我們在評論中所說，我們認為利率必須從現在開始上升，才能真正解決結構性問題，所以我們正在維持現貨市場日費率增加的船舶的平衡。

So we feel very good about the where we are. In terms of the potential to ultimately exit the business, I think that we're committed to it. It's a very good business. Obviously, cyclical within the next 3 to 5 years review is very strong for the business and could be even beyond that unless and until other people initiate significant construction programs, which is the only way that you're going to solve the supply demand imbalance for Jones Act on it.

所以我們對自己所處的位置感覺非常好。就最終退出該業務的可能性而言，我認為我們對此做出了承諾。這是一個非常好的生意。顯然，未來 3 到 5 年內的周期性審查對企業來說非常強烈，甚至可能會超出這個範圍，除非其他人啟動重大建設計劃，這是解決供應需求不平衡的唯一方法。

Got it. Thanks for that. And then just wanted to ask a little bit of left-field here, but there's been some recent press about sodi -- ideal to use sodium to replace lithium for EV batteries. Just curious if that's something you're hearing about from any potential customers as it relates to your soda ash. Thanks.

知道了。感謝那。然後只是想在這裡問一些左領域的問題，但最近有一些關於鈉的新聞——使用鈉代替電動車電池中的鋰的理想選擇。只是好奇您是否從任何潛在客戶那裡聽到了與您的純鹼有關的事情。謝謝。

Yes, Michael, this is Ryan. Yeah, we have seen reports of that. I think a lot of it's coming out of China with the sodium ion batteries. And certainly that would help from a demand perspective, we see some growth there. So I think overall, it's a positive portfolio industry but it still in its early stages.

是的，邁克爾，這是瑞安。是的，我們已經看到了相關報導。我認為其中很大一部分是來自中國的鈉離子電池。當然，從需求的角度來看，這會有所幫助，我們看到了一些成長。所以我認為總的來說，這是一個積極的投資組合產業，但仍處於早期階段。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Even in the lithium carbonate world, if you look at some of the more recent public pronouncements of the large public lithium producers, lithium demand being driven by EV batteries, which in most processes require two parts of soda ash for one part of lithium to make lithium carbonate. The demand profile for soda ash is a drag-along, if you will, from the increased lithium demand is a very positive for our business.

即使在碳酸鋰領域，如果你看一下大型公共鋰生產商最近的一些公開聲明，你會發現鋰需求是由電動車電池推動的，在大多數工藝中，需要兩份純鹼來生產一份鋰。碳酸鋰。如果你願意的話，純鹼的需求狀況是一個拖累，因為鋰需求的增加對我們的業務非常有利。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Grant Sims for closing comments.

（操作員說明） 目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回格蘭特·西姆斯以徵求結束意見。

And again, thanks, everybody, for listening to the call and we look forward to visiting with you in 90 days, if not sooner. So, thank you.

再次感謝大家收聽電話，我們期待在 90 天內（如果不是更早的話）與您會面。所以謝謝。

This concludes today's conference, you may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束，您可以掛斷電話了，感謝您的參與。